Originality has its humor.
In regards to a band’s name, originality can mean the difference between stardom and an unbeknownst being. Example: Crash Test Dummies. They were a group with a very unique name and not-so awesome sound, but it still managed to give them semi-super stardom. Half of that stardom came from the irony of the name. I mean, who in their right mind would ever want to be a crash test dummy?
Tribute band on stage
Enter The Dave Matthews Band. The name itself screams unoriginality and laziness. However, its creative touch whispers a chuckle and a “Ok, these guys ought to be real good” sarcastic outlook. Then, of course, you hear their music and realize the joke’s on you.
Recently, a band honoring DMB played in Myrtle Beach at the Beach Wagon Bar & Grill. It's the first time the band has played in the Grand Strand. . . ever.
The band’s name says it all, dubbed The Dave Matthews Tribute Band. It’s an appropriate page taken from the semi-sarcastic mastermind of Dave Matthews. It answers the rhetorical query, “If you were to put together a tribute band honoring The Dave Matthews Band, what would you call it?” Duh.
And so it is. The Dave Matthews Tribute Band was formed after lead singer Ryan Clifford folded to his friends suggestion that he listen to “this new band called Dave Matthews” and bought one of Matthew’s albums.
“All throughout school I was listening to rap and R&B,” Clifford said. “Dave Matthews was a name I kept hearing from my friends. Finally, I went out and bought Live at Luther College [featuring Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds.] It changed my life.”
Soon thereafter Clifford went out and bought a guitar. The year was 1999.
“I had never played an instrument in my life,” he said.
The rest, as they say, is history. Clifford formed The Dave Matthews Tribute Band after being connected, in a very grassroots friend-to-friend kind of way, to others who shared his love for DMB.
Hailing from Buffalo, NY, the Dave Matthews Tribute Band is the only nationally touring tribute to the Dave Matthews Band. This 6-piece ensemble strives to pay homage to their famous counterparts by matching the excitement, energy, intensity and intimacy of a DMB live show.
At the Beach Wagon, the band played perfectly, hits by the real band. The group absolutely stunned the audience with “So Damn Lucky” and the opening number “Don’t Drink the Water.”
The crowd was here and there, paying attention at times between sips of their drink. Then, The Dave Matthews Tribute Band played “Ants Marching” and the majority of the crowd took to the floor.
By the end of their two sets at the Wagon, the Tribute band had had their standing O’s and whistles. Their sound was a dead-ringer to the internationally known Dave Matthews Band.
